The Big Three Own $15.8 Trillion in Q4 2025: Vanguard, BlackRock, and State Street's Combined 13F Footprint

The “Big Three” passive index fund managers — Vanguard, BlackRock, and State Street — collectively hold $15.8 trillion in 13F-reportable U.S. equities as of Q4 2025. That’s larger than the GDP of every country except the United States and China.

TL;DR

• Combined AUM: $15.80 trillion ($6.90T + $5.92T + $2.98T)
• Combined positions: 72,190 (17,686 + 50,216 + 4,288)
• NVDA weight consensus: 6.13-6.20% across all three
• Top-3 stocks consensus: NVDA, AAPL, MSFT at all three firms
• Position concentration difference: State Street averages $695M/position vs BlackRock $118M
• YoY combined growth: +19.5% from $13.22T in Q4 2024
• Key insight: Despite different reporting methodologies, the Big Three hold virtually identical portfolio weights

Side-by-Side Comparison

Metric	Vanguard	BlackRock	State Street
13F AUM	$6.90T	$5.92T	$2.98T
Positions	17,686	50,216	4,288
Avg Position	$390M	$118M	$695M
NVDA Weight	6.13%	6.13%	6.20%
AAPL Weight	5.62%	5.31%	5.51%
MSFT Weight	5.03%	4.92%	4.97%
Top-5 Share	22.0%	21.5%	22.1%
QoQ Growth	+3.3%	+3.6%	+3.4%

The NVDA weights are virtually identical (6.13%, 6.13%, 6.20%) because all three track market-cap-weighted indexes. The tiny variance in State Street’s higher weight likely reflects SPDR fund family mechanics or timing differences.

What the Differences Reveal

Position count: BlackRock’s 50,216 positions vs State Street’s 4,288 isn’t about diversification — it’s about reporting methodology. BlackRock reports each ETF sleeve separately; State Street consolidates. The underlying exposure is nearly identical.

AUM gap: Vanguard leads at $6.90T, reflecting its dominance in U.S. retail index fund flows. BlackRock’s 13F doesn’t capture its massive non-equity AUM (bonds, alternatives, international), where it leads globally.

The Concentration Paradox

Despite holding 72,190 combined positions, the Big Three’s aggregate economic exposure is concentrated in the same ~500 large-cap stocks. The Magnificent Seven (NVDA, AAPL, MSFT, AMZN, GOOGL/GOOG, META, TSLA) represent roughly 27-28% across all three portfolios.

What Analysts Might Misread

“The Big Three control $15.8T in stocks.” True in aggregate, but much of this is pass-through — the underlying investors are millions of individual retirement accounts, pension funds, and 401(k) plans. The Big Three are custodians and fiduciaries, not owners in a traditional sense.

How much do Vanguard, BlackRock, and State Street own combined?

$15.8 trillion in 13F-reportable U.S. equity assets as of Q4 2025, spread across 72,190 positions.

Do the Big Three own the same stocks?

Essentially yes. The top 10 holdings are nearly identical across all three, with NVDA, AAPL, and MSFT in the same order and within 0.5 percentage points of each other in weight.

Which is the largest — Vanguard or BlackRock?

In 13F-reportable U.S. equities, Vanguard ($6.90T) leads BlackRock ($5.92T). In total global AUM including bonds and alternatives, BlackRock leads overall.